What Will You Grow?

Deciding what to grow on your smallholding is a hard task. First you need to look at what type of soil you have to find out what will grow well. There's no point in planting lots of things that need sandy soil if you live in an area where the soil is predominately clay.

While the quality of your soil can be improved over time it does take hard work. Many people prefer to grow in raised beds but for me I like to plant direct in the ground. Speaking to your neighbours about what they grow can be a huge help. They're a font of knowledge, especially if, like in rural Bulgaria, they've been growing produce for a long time.

Being realistic about how much land to plant is key, remember you'll have to water and weed the plots for quite a long time and whilst in theory growing heaps of vegetables is very appealing, spending all day, every day watering and weeding can be very tiresome.

If like me you've had all winter to plan what you'll be growing you're almost ready to start planting now. We have our vegetable plot plowed at the end of the growing season (usually late October) and are waiting now for the last of the frosts to go and then we can get on and rotovate before starting to plant things out. I already have some seedlings waiting to go into the ground and a few things in a small winter vegetable patch that are hopefully getting a head start.

Which Livestock Will Suit You?

Taking on any livestock needs careful consideration. In a previous post I said that pigs are an excellent way of starting out and will help to clear land before planting - I still stand by that but advise anyone thinking about livestock to firstly read up, research what's available in your area and then think some more before taking the leap.

Chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys and other poultry all have different needs, some can't be housed together and others will tolerate different types sharing their environment. Pigs, cows, goats and sheep all take a fair amount of time to keep and will need more attention over winter months as the weather worsens and there is a possibility that they can't go out grazing, supplementary feeding becomes necessary and usually has to be bought over the summer months and stored.

Keeping Livestock

Livestock can be very rewarding whether you plan to rear them for meat or not. Chickens are good to start out with as they are relatively easy to keep and don't take up huge amounts of time or energy. There are a huge variety of breeds available and also ex-battery hens that are looking for new homes.

Again there are books to help you learn how to care for chickens and while many people buy them as fluffy one day old chicks they don't realise that it will be months before they start laying eggs and that if not sexed correctly their cute chicks could all turn out to be cockerels! Sexing chicks is not something for the novice to do although there are a couple of methods widely used.

Chick sexing made easy, A guide to sexing chicks, are a couple of books you could try. Myself I prefer to breed my own birds and then cull any unwanted cockerels before they become a problem. Laying hens can object to more than one cockerel and egg production can drop, plus fully matured cockerels will fight and often injure one another while trying to establish dominancy within a flock.